Family
by WayWard Childe
Summary: Post NFA. SpikeDawn Spike now has to face blue eyes that have haunted him since the monks planted her in existence.


**Title: Family**

**Five years post Not Fade Away.**

**Pairing: Spike/Dawn**

**Genre: Romance/Drama.**

Spike fidgeted as he looked at the hospital room door, his hand hovering over the doorknob. He barely missed the Scoobies who are all down in the hospital cafeteria. Still none of them knew of his return, except for Andrew and a shanshued Angel. After the alleyway battle both he and Angel shanshued, and to Angel's surprise, Spike sent Angel off to Buffy. He never told Angel why he gave up the battle for Buffy, and it wasn't because he thought she loved Angel more. It's the same reason he didn't get on that boat, the same reason he stayed in L.A. and fought next to his grand-sire. There are just some things you can't take back; no matter how much you love each other. What he did to her and what she did to him, it can't be mended it can't be fixed. Now something's happened that he can't ignore, bringing forth feelings he can't run from anymore.

His nibblet just gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Whose father died eight months ago in a car crash.

He now has to face blue eyes that have haunted him since the monks planted her in existence.

Spike hesitantly knocked on the door. A muffled "Come in." came from Dawn.

"Should be careful who you say that too, Nibblet." Spike said as he opened the door. "Never know who's at the door." He said as he closed it.

Dawn's eyes were wide as saucers when she heard the voice. "No." Her voice choked her eyes glossy with tears. "You're the first. You're not real." She said through clenched teeth.

Spike smirked at her and stalked towards her like a panther. "Really little girl, you have no idea what you're talking about." Spike said as he grabbed her wrist, she gasped in shock. "Because I'm very real. And I'm here." His voice cracked a little at the last part.

A single tear slid down her cheek an instant before she pulled Spike down into a hug. "You're back, you're back." She kept whispering into his neck as she held on.

Spike just nuzzled her neck as he held on equally as tight.

"How long?" She finally asked.

Spike stilled at the question and groaned mentally. 'She's going to hit me, I know she's going to hit me.'

"Nineteen days after the hell mouth collapsed."

She sucked in her breath and pulled back from their embrace. A look of pain clearly etched on her face.

"Why so long?" She asked angrily. "Why didn't you tell us, after all the tears we cried for you! I cried for you! Were you happy to get rid of us?" Her last shout was followed by tears.

"What? No. No! Of course I wasn't happy to be rid of you. Hell! I was never rid of you. You were always here." He said while pointing to his heart.

"Get out." She said flatly.

"But-"

"Get out!"

Spike nodded and hung his head. He rose from the side of the bed and walked towards the door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and without turning around Spike spoke in a low and calm voice.

"I wanted to come back, but I wasn't sure if I was welcome. Wanting to set me fire, not really a welcoming feeling. So I stayed with Angel, a year and apocalypse later, I realized some things. Took me a while to find out who I was, took me longer to accept what I realized. So think about this cause I'll be back in the morning. Buffy got married, Willow adopted a kid, and Xander almost died. Pretty big events over the last few years." Spike turned around, his sapphire eyes filled with an emotion Dawn was unfamiliar with. An emotion she'd never seen directed towards her. "Pretty big events happen to your lot. And the only thing that brought me out of hiding. The only thing that brought me back, was you." With that Spike opened the door and left.

Dawn's steely gaze let a lone tear travel down her cheek as the door quietly closed. Dawn fell back onto her pillows crying herself to sleep. Her last thought before she drifted into unconsciousness was 'Why does he always make me feel more than anyone else?'

_She's running down the hallway like her life depended on it. 'Where's mommy? Where's Buffy?' Dawn thinks as she rushes down the corridors of sunnydale high school. A cold strong hand grabs her arm and turns her around sharply. Dawn looks up to see a bumpy face with two amber eyes. Dawn tries to scream, but she can't seem to make the noise, too terrified to do anything so she just keeps looking. The vampire licks his fangs and Dawn suddenly wishes she didn't beg her mother to take her to Buffy's parent teacher night. The vampire grips her chin roughly while he rubs his thumb softly on her cheek._

"_Now what's a pretty platelet like you doing here?" His British accent asked huskily._

_Dawn doesn't answer she just looks at him defiantly._

"_Well aren't you a brave little bird?" Spike muses. Spike bares his fangs and lowers his head down to her neck. Spike soon feels a sharp pain in his foot and another sharp pain in his groin as he lets go of the 11 year old. Dawn runs for her life for the second time that night, only to make it about five feet before she was lifted into the air and thrown into an empty classroom. She franticly tried to grab something in hopes of defending herself. She finds a sharpened pencil and turns back to the door. Spike eyes the little girl with the pencil gripped in her hand. Anger flashing in his eyes, but curiosity is running through his mind._

"_You'd fight till your last breath wouldn't you, nibblet?"_

_A determined look in her soft blue eyes answered his question. Spike almost gasped when he saw the fire in those blue eyes. But what really befuddled Spike was the age and wisdom that seem to be held within the eyes. Wisdom perhaps even the girl doesn't know she possesses. Spike knows from that moment on he won't forget those eyes, an ageless wisdom mixed with youthful innocence and wild determination. He could live an eternity and never forget those eyes._

_Spike puts his hand on the door and says, "Get under the desk and don't make a sound." Spike doesn't give her a chance to respond he just closes the door and leaves her confused. Dawn runs up to the door and locks it, then goes to hide under her desk. Buffy found her several minutes later and they both clung to each other, not willing to let the other one go._

Dawn gasps as she wakes up from her dream, but it wasn't a dream, it was a memory. She turns on her side to look at the clock; it's only 5:15 in the morning. Dawn wonders why she had that dream of all dreams to have. She also wonders why Spike didn't try to kill her that night. She thinks maybe that's how the monks wrote it, but they didn't change history, did they? They didn't re-write the adventures of Buffy and the Scooby gang, no they just put her in. So if she actually existed that night Spike still would of saved her. He still would of put her in the empty class room and lock the door, why? And that thought brings her to Spike's sudden return. 'Why is he here?' She asks. 'Why not go back to Buffy? Why come back to me?' Those questions kept repeating in her mind and finally the biggest question, 'Am I going to turn him away again?'

Three hours later… 

Spike's heart started to pound in his chest as he stared at the door knob. He's never really been afraid, not since he turned into a vampire and even turning back human didn't bring on fear. But her? She could destroy him like Drusilla and Buffy could only dream. His hand shakily went to doorknob, eyes closing in fear, but opening again with determination. He turned the knob and brought up his other hand up, rapping on the door with his knuckles.

"Dawn?"

"Here." Came a soft reply.

When Spike entered the room he gasped in amassment.

There his nibblet was holding her beautiful child in her arms.

"He's beautiful." He whispered, still it was loud of enough for Dawn to hear.

"Yes he is." She said mesmerized as she stared down at the small bundle of life in her arms.

Spike cautiously walked over to the side of the bed, kneeling down on one knee to be level with the baby.

"Why, Spike? Why so long, why come back to me?"

"I was afraid." Was his simple yet complex reply.

"Of what? What could you be afraid of?" She demanded quietly.

"My heart. What I feel, who I love. I was afraid because it wasn't what I thought. And it scared me because I was so soddin blind. When I knew, when I understood it was too late, she was taken." His hand now placed on her.

"Wh-who was taken." She asked, her heart pounding in her ears.

"You were taken." Was all Spike said before he reached up and gently kissed on her the lips.

She stilled, unsure and scared, but soon hidden emotions past desire and simple truths flooded her heart. She began to kiss back passionately. Their tongues battled and messaged each other as they let out all the love and lust that they've hidden.

When the kiss broke they leaned their forehead together gasping for breath.

"We could be a family. Me, you, and the nibblet." He said.

"We are." Was all Dawn said, and then they kissed again.

**End.**


End file.
